Sir,
I WISH to join issues with you on an interview you granted, which has been trending in social media, that the Nigerian people have been sufficiently weakened to breakup Nigeria, and the elites (including you) would never allow them to do that, because the elites have more stake in the continuity of the country as one nation.
I hope you wouldn’t mind the length of this letter, because it deals with the relationship between those who matter, and those who don’t in society, which provided a platform for your political career in the PRP, which very few of you still wear as a badge of political distinction: Jagorancin Talakawa.
Whilst there is no limit to the selfish designs of the elites, there is a limit to what they can disallow. The privileged Turkish elites couldn’t save the Ottoman Empire, the archetypal melting pot, from non-Turkish nationalities, who took advantage of the foreign interventions which coincided with the decline of the empire to sever themselves from the overlordship of the Turks.
It is quite unfortunate that rather than the elites being concerned with advancing the Nigerian torch to the highest global level, the nation is overwhelmed by disintegrative fissures, in response to which you made your assertions on the breakup of the nation.
Sir, why, half a century after Biafra, and 25 years after the permanent withdrawal of the military from politics, the longest democratic experiment in the nation (25 years), in which Nigerians, from ward, state, federal, senatorial, gubernatorial, and national constituencies, elect their representatives, governors, and the president, every four years, who must have satisfied criteria for local and national acceptability, should there be talks of dismembering the nation?
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It would be fruitful to find out who is responsible for the disintegrative fissures in Nigeria. Certainly, it can’t be the military, who are trained to defend, and keep the country together, who had left the stage 25 years ago; as it can’t be the Nigerian people, who, as the former military head of state, General Buhari, aptly stated, have no other country than Nigeria, reinforced by their weakness, which you highlighted. Then, those responsible for the present state of the nation, which led you, Sir, to posit that Nigeria can’t be broken, are the politicians, who have in the last 25 years been the ruling class in Nigeria. Therefore, the blame for the state of affairs in Nigeria, should go to them; because whenever disintegrative issues are raised, someone somewhere is aggrieved, and the people can’t be aggrieved with themselves, but with those who pilot their affairs.
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In the last quarter of a century, the political elites have pushed the nation into a neoliberal cul-de-sac, which suffocates only the people, because the elites must always access public funds to dissipate. Despite the torrential rains of public funds of over N10 trillion into the North West, in the last 24 years, which the North Western elites find inadequate to disburse, have to push some of their states into unnecessary debt traps.
Across the nation, the elites manipulate separatist movements, and could deploy them to set the nation ablaze, if their political ambitions are imperilled. This vividly brings out their incapacity, or refusal to appreciate, and learn from history.
As in the First Republic, elections are today a matter of life and death; some political office holders have so dangerously overwhelmed the polity; internal party democracy is a sham; Nigerians eke out a humdrum existence, whilst corruption has prevented them from getting the fullest dividends of democracy, etc.
As one of the few surviving politicians before whose eyes the aftermath of the 1964 general election led to operation wetie in the West, and the declaration of emergency in the region, which snowballed into the Civil War, could have been a big lesson to the politicians.
Whilst there is no limit to the selfish designs of the elites, there is a limit to what they can disallow. The privileged Turkish elites couldn’t save the Ottoman Empire, the archetypal melting pot, from non-Turkish nationalities, who took advantage of the foreign interventions which coincided with the decline of the empire to sever themselves from the overlordship of the Turks. As it was with the Turks; so was it with the communist zealots in the former Soviet Union, who couldn’t disallow the Baltic and Eastern peoples, and the aspiring capitalists among them, and the Russians, from taking advantage of the dysfunctionalities in the Soviet system, reinforced by foreign interference to sever themselves from the Communist Behemoth.
Sir, you might have forgotten that not long ago, a frustrated and broken down Tunisian hawker, Mohammed Boazizi, facilitated the Arab Spring in late 2010, which led poor Arabs, whose Nigerian counterparts you regard as incapable of action, to demand an end to massive corruption, and bad governance, which swept away some regimes from power. Despite their high stakes in the status quo, neither the Turkish, Soviet, Tunisian nor Egyptian elites could disallow the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union, and the regime changes in North Africa.
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The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union, and their breakups; and the deteriorating conditions in the Maghreb, were underscored by serious economic challenges, mounting corruption, and the shrinking authority of the state, and foreign interference.
Sir, besides foreign interference, which is not so manifest in Nigeria, don’t serious economic challenges, excessive corruption, and the dwindling authority of the state define national life in Nigeria?
As in the First Republic, elections are today a matter of life and death; some political office holders have so dangerously overwhelmed the polity; internal party democracy is a sham; Nigerians eke out a humdrum existence, whilst corruption has prevented them from getting the fullest dividends of democracy, etc.
Sir, long before the creation of the Nigerian nation, a weakened people saved their elites from national dishonour. The Prussian attack on Paris in the 1870s, was an example, in which ordinary Parisians were left to defend Paris after the flight of the government; who contributed money and bought an artillery for the defence of Paris, an anticipation of their Nigerian brethren, who would almost a century later save the elites and the nation from disintegration and dishonour.
And finally, Sir; if it had been in your younger progressive days, you could jettison your elitist background, and join forces with movements against the excesses of Nigerian elites; but because of your stake in the status quo, as you highlighted, you can’t contemplate that even in a dream today.
Sir, those you referred to as incapable of action, might be physically and economically weakened, but their minds are strong; it is only the strong-willed who can exist in Nigeria. The vulcanisers, truck pushers, water sellers, etc, are neither weak, nor unaware of the underlying causes of the state of the nation; their progressive or revolutionary potentials are latent, which could have been ignited by the #EndSars, and #OccupyNigeria movements, or similar movements.
Unlike the privileged Turks, the Communist ideologues, and the Tunisian and Egyptian elites who couldn’t save their states from disintegration, or regime change, Nigerian elites could save theirs from redirecting the economy to serve the people rather than to disproportionately cater for the elites; stop the frightening corruption which defines national life; and reposition the state to assert its authority nationwide, which could glue the nation together, and stop its passage down the cliff. Always driven by self-interests, the elites would hardly reset the economy on an equitable trajectory, which could mollify the people.
Therefore, Sir, your statement was far off the mark. The elites can only do what they know best: temporarily floating menacingly above the people, with least concern with what affects society. Despite their high floatation, they can’t prevent monumental changes in society.
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If the assertion you made had been made by a leading Kenyan politician about the docility of the Kenyan people, events in that country would contradict him, where Kenyan youths have occupied the streets, the IMF and World Bank offices demanding an end to their suffering.
And finally, Sir; if it had been in your younger progressive days, you could jettison your elitist background, and join forces with movements against the excesses of Nigerian elites; but because of your stake in the status quo, as you highlighted, you can’t contemplate that even in a dream today.
Yours,
Aminu Habibu Jahun
Jahun, a commentator on public affairs, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State capital. He writes this column every Wednesday under the title: ‘The Other Perspective’. He can be reached via email @: aminuhabibu58@gmail.com or WhatsApp: +234 703 903 8088.
